Dragonriding Into The Future

[LordVargK]

Dragonriding is the most fun gameplay change Blizzard made in years.
1. it keeps downtime low
2. it opens up bigger maps
3. it feels like playing the game. Before flying was basically "go afk until you're above your target"

If it were to be discontinued, I and probably most other players would be severly disappointed. It's bad enough to fly to the old dungeons right now.

[Zuben]

I definitely want to see it expanded to the rest of the game. I like dragonriding so much it's even affecting other games of similar control nature, such as Valheim. Sure wish I could ride Moder around the realm.

[GabrielKnight]

I can't stand Dragonriding. It's a nice feature for a minigame, but it gets old pretty quickly. I don't really care about the speed, I prefer the precision of the old style. Farming is a nightmare.

I just want them to keep both systems available, so players can choose they one they prefer. They can keep expanding upon Dragonriding, but removing a feature that has been in the game since the first expansion is a bad, bad move.

I've seen tons of complains from disabled people also, it's weird that they went to such lengths to add options to colorblind players for example, yet they don't care at all about those who can't use Dragonriding properly.

[Not A Cat]

I love dragonriding and I hope it's here to stay. I hope they add more races to older zones.

With that being said, they definitely need to keep legacy flying as an option. There's no reason they can't both exist.

[Nymrohd]

With that being said, they definitely need to keep legacy flying as an option. There's no reason they can't both exist.

Only as long as we can knock them out of the air with surge with WM on.

[ro9ue]

Why do you think they went out of their way to cover every single dragon skeleton type with the Dragonriding system? It will almost certainly be retroactively applied to the existing mounts. I think going forward they will do a new mount system for each expansion that will be retroactively applied to all mounts of that type.

Example: next expansion mounted combat on Lightforged Draenor. You get a talbuk, horse, clefthoof, etc. At end of that expansion you can toggle that new system on for any old mount with the same skeletons.

There will probably be a few mounts that won't get covered, which is fine, the legacy flying system will still be in place.

[Pakheth]

I don't see why you would need new animations for models that don't have them yet. It's literally just flying up and flying forward, you can just use the default flying animations there.

It's not that simple and it's clear you have never worked with game development. It's not "just do this".

The whole feel of Dragonriding is dependant on the animations of the things you fly on. Making a turn? Your mount banks to the side. Flying down? Your mount goes into a dive. Taking off from the ground? It makes a leap into the air. Surging forward? The mount keeps the wings close its body.

If the mount doesn't have these animations the flight will seem stiff and you don't get the same visual feedback. Old animations simply don't suffice and some mounts can't even do these animations.

And like I mentioned before there will be visual glitches if the new animations aren't properly attached to the old rigs. There might also be issues that arise when forcing the system on older models and rigs that we won't understand without seeing their code, and we know WoW's code has some weird solutions in it. Remember the bag size limitations? Flying was added in TBC, that's a very long time ago.

I want to Dragonride on all my flying mounts but I know very well Blizz might not be willing to do the job on all of them, or at least stagger the release of them depending on type.

- - - Updated - - -

Why do you think they went out of their way to cover every single dragon skeleton type with the Dragonriding system? It will almost certainly be retroactively applied to the existing mounts. I think going forward they will do a new mount system for each expansion that will be retroactively applied to all mounts of that type.

Example: next expansion mounted combat on Lightforged Draenor. You get a talbuk, horse, clefthoof, etc. At end of that expansion you can toggle that new system on for any old mount with the same skeletons.

There will probably be a few mounts that won't get covered, which is fine, the legacy flying system will still be in place.

That's what I'm hoping for.
Going through all the skeletons/rigs will be a big undertaking so doing it staggered is a wise decision imo.

[Makabreska]

Why do you think they went out of their way to cover every single dragon skeleton type with the Dragonriding system? It will almost certainly be retroactively applied to the existing mounts. I think going forward they will do a new mount system for each expansion that will be retroactively applied to all mounts of that type.

It is already happening. 10.1 datamining revealed DR animations being added to other flying mounts.

[Villager720]

I truly expect dragonriding to remain and for Blizzard to slowly rejigger the old flying mount models for use with the system (we've seemingly got that already with old drake models).

But I'm also not sure we won't seem some changes. The speed, obviously, is excellent, but once you apply it to anywhere outside the Dragon Isles, it will makes the world feel minuscule. The devs have even spoken about sizing the landmass for the Dragon Isles around dragonriding due to the speed issue.
So if they really do open it up elsewhere, it's going to make, say Durotar, feel like 4 hills covered in 12 seconds which I don't think is great for the game. So if it ends up being slowed a bit, depending on landmass/content, I wouldn't be surprised.

[Azerox]

I hate dragonflying and hope it dies next xpac.

[Jujudrood]

Here's what I would do:
- update dragonriding to be a wider flying concept (let's call it 'aerial master' for this example)
- put all vigor abilities on keybinds and remove the 'spacebar' function from dragonriding (for default binds)
- extend 'normal flying' to all current dragonriding mounts, and 'aerial master' to all regular flying mounts
- allow normal regular flying buttons to function (WASD, spacebar to go up, X to go down) with max speed as current character speed (310% base max)
- let vigor be used to bump speed to current dragonriding cap, using the various vigor buttons and angles for speed
- when vigor is spent and momentum is lost, revert to standard flying, removing the slowfall-like mechanic that happens today and replacing it with the hover of regular flying so you no longer lose altitude, you just come to a stop mid-air
- vigor generation when in 'regular flying' mode (so you don't have to land to generate)
- update the new 'halt' button being added in 10.0.7 to let you enter regular flying mode from dragonriding mode (basically, hitting the breaks)
- use 'surge forward' (current base ability) to go into dragonriding from regular flying

In this model, all flying mounts get access to the vigor system, can use it as vigor permits, then can revert to normal flying when they get 'tired' to generate more vigor or otherwise want a more controlled and precise flying experience that regular flying gives.

[Ielenia]

So it does seem like dragonriding at this point most players have gotten used to and it's a popular feature. The question is, if we're going to carry this into the next expansion, where do we go from here?

*We've got an entire group of flying/ground mounts that are essentially redundant in DF and a bunch of old zones that are still structured around them.

*What about when a new player joins? Should DF be the new expansion they start in instead of BFA?

*Then what if someone levels an alt and decides they still want to level in Howling Fjord?

*Or they just miss almost all of the dragonriding upgrade tokens on the way before hitting the new level cap?

This is a brainstorming thread. Do you want dragonriding in the next expansion and older content? If so, how do you want them to implement that? Off the top of my head, unlocking alternate skins for the 4 drake types for any mount you have unlocked sharing that skeleton (proto-drake, drake, wyvern, pterrordax, and eventually cloud serpent) under the Full Transformations tab and adding a rostrum of transformation into both faction capitals would be a start to add some variety, but I don't know how you could "dragonride" a flying bunny.

Just going by "what will they do in the future", and going on the assumption that they won't adapt the old world and mounts for dragonriding, DR seems... kinda weird for the future? I mean, DR is not just the physics flight mechanic, it also encompasses the glyphs, dragon customization options, and skills. So what are the options here?
• Dragonriding is kept as-is, would new players have to go back and play through DR at least to get all the glyphs to learn all the skills for dragonriding, even if we're in expansion #19?
• Dragonriding is reset for every expansion, meaning you'll always have to re-collect all glyphs and re-learn all the dragonriding abilities for each new expansion.
• Dragonriding is updated for every expansion, gaining new skill(s) every time.

IMO, option #3 seems not feasible in the long term, and #1 and #2 aren't exactly fun.

[Puri]

If the mount doesn't have these animations the flight will seem stiff and you don't get the same visual feedback.

So? Obviously you won't get the same feedback. But does it matter when your flying cat does not have a correct "bend in the wind" animation? It's nice to have, but by far it's not mandatory to add dragonflying to old mounts. It fully sufficient of your cat looks to the right, which it already does when you do a right turn.

[Powerogue]

IMO, option #3 seems not feasible in the long term, and #1 and #2 aren't exactly fun.

It could be that they simply remove the glyphs or add the ability to spend like 5k at the dragonriding trainer to automatically unlock them all. So start of 11.0, WoW: Fluffy Bunnies of Doom, we're off the boat and have immediate access to a Dragonriding Trainer (or just put it in SW/Org as part of the flight trainer) that both trains you in dragonriding, sells one dragonriding mount (very cheap akin to unlocking regular base flying), and lets you pay additional gold for all the glyphs (costs a bit more). Once it's unlocked it's already acct wide so it doesn't need to be attached to some heirloom item.

I personally wouldn't be against starting with base dragonriding and just a new set of glyphs for each expansion area that has dragonriding added since they can be done day 1 pretty easily but I feel like it wouldn't be a popular idea.

[Cathfaern]

*What about when a new player joins? Should DF be the new expansion they start in instead of BFA?

I think they already plan that. I have just leveled an alt and noticed that dragonflight zones are prepared for totally new players, explaining things like how pets or professions works through quest chains. Given how the story is connected to almost nothing we have in the game (except for existing characters, but even for them the story do not depend on their background) it would be a really good starting zone, much better than BfA.

[Ielenia]

It could be that they simply remove the glyphs or add the ability to spend like 5k at the dragonriding trainer to automatically unlock them all.

Having to pay 5k gold nowadays is nothing, might as well just remove the cost altogether and make everything baseline, honestly. Which then removes one part of the feature with is the steady upgrade of the flight feature.

[Schizoide]

This isn't a great poll because it only has two binary choices which I read as "Only dragonflight from now on" or "Only normal flight from now on". My preference, and from what I've read on the forums many players share it, is to allow both in all outdoor content.

If I had to choose between only those two options I would prefer normal flight. That would be a shame because DF is great for long distances, but the convenience factor of normal flight is huge and I frequently find DF annoying in normal gameplay, multiple times an hour.

[Z3ROR]

I really like dragonriding a lot. You can get high, you can get enormous speed to get somewhere really quick. But... i also like old way of flying. It's peaceful and you can do something in the meanwhile while going to your destination. So would like to see Dragonriding improved where it gets a mode added where can fly like the old way. With a bit restriction of ofcourse.

Add glide-mode or something. Your mount will just fly at <your riding speed> through the air with a limited distance from the ground. If you wanna fly higher then you have to go into dragonriding and fly upwards. When you go into glide mode again, then your dragon descends slowly back down to the limited ground distance again. You can always take over and do dragonriding stuff like dive down. When glide-mode is active you very slowly consume Vigor. When Vigor is empty you go to the ground. So eventually you need dragonriding to gain Vigor if you want to fly a larger distance. When you get enough Vigor you can fly further more passively with the glide-mode again.